Bound To You

Chapter 6

Areven

''You fucking sorry sods better get your rest tonight,'' Jude said when they started dimming more if the torches. Areven learned they did that to help keep the guards on a normal schedule. Only two stayed on the eight-hour night shift. "The showing is tomorrow and the Lord expects your utmost cooperation."

Jude left after leaving Tom and another guard in charge.

Areven turned to Moulin, lounging against his cell wall. ''The fuck is a showing?''

The goblin grunted, scowling. ''Exactly what it sounds like. The Lord puts us in pretty cages and shows us off to his rich friends. The strongest of us fight in the arena.''

"The arena?''

"Mmhm. Sometimes we fight each other, other times it's rabid animals he's found in the forest.''

''Good fucking gods.'' Areven grunted.

Moulin agreed. ''Try to get some sleep, you'll need it.''

Areven couldn't. Not when this was the best time to talk to Moulin now that there were only two guards.

"Why does she heal us?" He asked, glancing at the small heap of the nymph curled up in the furthest corner away from him. Occasionally her form shivered violently before stilling. Ever since she healed him, he had questions he couldn't find the answers to. He wondered at the character of her.

She kept healing these men, preventing them from death and prolonging their suffering. How truly innocent was she in all of this? She didn't fight the guards when they told her to heal, nor when they let her leave for her hour. "If she was merciful, she'd grant us death."

"You're a bloody fool." Moulin muttered.

Areven whipped back towards the old goblin. "You're telling me you wouldn't take death? When you've been here gods know how long and they've done gods know what to you?"

Moulin glared at him, such vile hatred in those eyes. "You're a fool."

Areven growled and turned away from him. The goblin wasn't telling him anything useful.

"You're a fool for thinking she has a fucking choice." Moulin said after a while. "You think I wouldn't prefer death? That any of us would gladly go through the veil to escape this place?" He scoffed and shook his head. Areven noted how he kept his voice low, he didn't want the nymph to hear him.

"Then she should put you out of your misery."

"No matter what they do to me, I wouldn't beg that nymph to end me, not for one moment."

"Why?" He had to know. He had to know why none of the rest of the prisoners hated her. In fact, they all seemed to respect her, cherish her, even going as far to be protective of her. He'd seen nearly all of them glare at the guards when they scared her, when in fact, they should be doing the opposite and doing everything they could to make the guards trust them, or even not be as harsh with the questioning.

"Because you weren't here the day she came. The first day she came." Mouth went quiet when he finally spoke, a far away look in his eyes. He was so quiet Areven had to strain to hear him.

"Victor's men dragged her down here, and she was barely a woman. You could see the pureness of her, the innocence she had, even when she was bloody scared out of her mind."

Areven cringed, thinking how long she must've been in this place if she was that young when taken.

"Victor came down that first night, went to her cell...and it wasn't pretty."